Yes, that name sounds utterly ridiculous...and if it was anybody other than the wonderful combination of ArcSys and Atlus, nobody would ever buy such a hokey name. But hokey is exactly right when it comes to the levels of goof that pretty much anything out of those two companies can achieve. I was able to play through arcade mode a few times in the new Persona 4 Ultimate (Persona 4 Arena in the states) and it is a nice expansion to the original game. The roster is updated to add Yukari and Junpei from P3 as well as another character that i assume is exclusively for the game, as I don't remember him from Persona 1 or 2 either. A Shadow Forme was also added for each character, playing off of the popular theme of the plot from P4. These versions control a little differently and have modified or upgraded attacks from their normal version. A handful of attacks were changed as well. As somebody who plays Aegis, I noticed very quickly that the range efficiency and hit counter for a lot of the bullet attacks had been altered. Despite this, it seems like the overall difficulty (in arcade mode of course) was toned down, as I didn't have as much of an issue with the Yosuke-esque final boss as I did with Labrys. As it stands P4U2 is coming to consoles in Japan, but I've heard nothing of a NA release yet.

Persona 4 Arena suffers from one gigantic glaring issue. "Easy combo" needs to be turned off for ranked matches. Really badly. Every single ranked match I play is people smashing square as fast as they can during a match trying to do the pre-set east combo. I'm not even joking when I say I fought somebody playing Elizabeth who, as soon as I hit the ground from one easy combo, was already smashing square as fast as she could as I was getting up.

Please, for the love of God, disable this shit in ranked matches. I don't care if the average Persona fan can't play fighting games, if they're going to play ranked matches make them learn like everyone else.

So I picked it up and played a few hours in arcade, online matches, and challenges last night. This game rocks.

First thing I immediately noticed is that it's a lot harder to pick up than I expected. The sheer number of possibilities due to your character AND the persona is pretty intense. The challenges have helped a little bit so far but I'm nowhere near stringing together combos like I was with Noel Vermilion or Arakune from Blazblue.

One thing that is kind of frustrating is the ease of simple combos by rapidly tapping square. I've played against a few people who just went the entire match doing these "simple combos" that go through a few attacks and then a special. Just like with other fighting games, getting better at your character helps to circumvent these combo abusers, but it makes learning the character in a legitimate way difficult at first. I'll have to spend more time in training/challenges/arcade getting used to it first.

The only gameplay element in which I'm disappointed is the entire cast uses the same combos for specials and finishers. The only variation is if they have to be on the ground, in the air, or using it to counter an attack. That aside, the combos are all the same across the board.

The music and visuals are fantastic. The music is borrowed straight from the Persona games and also remixed in some places. The character selection screen plays the famous "velvet room" music but in a more upbeat "pop" kind of version. It's easily one of my favorite tracks. The visuals enhance all of this, being super sharp and flashy.

Arc Systems did a superb job creating a wonderful assault on the senses. Battles are flashy, frantic, and sound great. This is one for fighting fans AND fans of the Persona franchise.